Jumpers (play)

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Jumpers is a play by Tom Stoppard which was first performed in 1972. It explores and satirises the field of academic philosophy by likening it to a less-than-skilful competitive gymnastics display. Jumpers raises questions such as "What do we know?" and "Where do values come from?" It is set in an alternative reality in which some British astronauts have landed on the Moon and "Radical Liberals" (read pragmatists and relativists) have taken over the British government (the play seems to suggest that pragmatists and relativists would be immoral since Archie says that murder is not wrong, merely "antisocial"). It was inspired by the notion that a crewed Moon landing would ruin the Moon as a poetic trope and possibly lead to a collapse of moral values. It has been said that Jumpers is "a play often dismissed as too clever by half", but a number of other writers have listed it among Stoppard's highest achievements.